Story Land 2019: Ghost Cars, Scared Pandas, and DISCOUNTED TICKETS!

On Brendan's last day of being a two year old, we took the "littles" to Story Land in Glen, New Hampshire.  You're free until you're three at Story Land so we made the cutoff by the skin of our teeth.  First stop was a photo with the clown (I have one of these from each year we visit).

Next stop was the Antique Cars.  This line is always the longest and so we wanted to get in right when the park opened.  Funny story, I had just sunscreened and bugsprayed everyone when we got out of the car (we travelled from MA where EEE is making history this summer, unfortunately) and while we were in line, a little girl in front of us exclaimed "Something smells!" and her mom quickly shushed her.  I laughed and said "Oh it's us!  We smell like lemons from the bug spray!"  and we all chuckled at the little girl's lack of filter.

Conway, New Hampshire and My Baby is Three!

At the end of the spring, we decided to plan ahead for a little summer family getaway to New Hampshire.  We wanted to take the little three boys to Story Land (next post!) and we work with a friend who has a rental house in Conway.  Easy peasy!  Except!  Trying to squeeze in a time between summer camps, working, an internship, a math class, a basketball league, swim lessons, you get it!  We settled on a nice four nights in the middle of August, and then had to cut it short for Freshman Orientation.  Ugh.  Oh well, three nights was actually wonderful.  

How blessed am I.

7 Tips for Back to School

EASE BACK INTO THE ROUTINE

Summer is allllllmooooost over and I am trying to stretch it out as much as I stretched out the almost back there. ;) The busyness of the school year is always what slams into me the week before school starts, with supply drop offs, student orientation, parent back-to-school nights, soccer tryouts, and deadlines for that summer work they much procrastinated over.  Once we get back into the swing of things, I have to admit that I prefer the newness of the school year, crisp weather, and routines over the humid, lazy days of summer where kids remind me how bored and hungry they are all the time.  Oh, just mine?  The first thing we like to do to get our kids back in the school groove is to start whipping their bodies into shape.  With tryouts and practices coming next week, we strongly urge them to go for runs now so that they are  not the kid puking on the sideline on the first day of practice (true story).  We also bring their sleep schedules back into school zone...earlier bedtimes and wake up times for all to start getting ready for that 6:45 am departure time.  Ugh.  That sounds really early.  Better head off to bed now ;)

Alexander the Great is Eight!

Xander has told me everyday this month exactly how many days until his birthday, and it fiiiiiiinally came!  He's EIGHT!

When we were discussing plans for his birthday, he started off by saying, "Well I definitely want to serve daily Mass, because it's my birthday, duh.  Then I'll go to the last day of camp for a little while, and then you can pick me up right after lunch and we can do something special."

Lo's and Hi's at the End of July

Lo:  JP is in the middle of a Cyber Security program at the local college and is supposed to be completing an internship this summer.  The problem is that he and a couple of other students have yet to be placed for the internship.  The program is brand new this year, so I can understand a few bumps in the road, but it is very annoying that he did not get a real summer job thinking he would have an internship and now he is just doing neither.  He is completing the college work, and doing his summer work for his AP courses next year, so he is keeping busy, but that's not making him any money.

Hi: JP gets to take his driving test at the end of August and since we only own a minivan and a huge van, we decided to get a small car that he can use to practice on and then drive around once he has his license.  To be clear, this is not HIS car, but a family car that he can use.  It's a 2006 Honda Accord with only 41,000 miles!  I love driving it around and we've nicknamed it the Holy Roller due to the rosary, holy water, statue of Mary and visor clip proclaiming that we are Catholic and to call a priest in case of an accident (all gifts from my mom).  A car doesn't get much holier than that - oh wait, we still need to get it blessed!

Summer Travels: Hershey Park, A Wedding in Maryland, and Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire

Well helloooooo!  It's been awhile!  The summer has been quite packed with camps and sports leagues and work and potty training and driving lessons.  Phew!  I started the summer out by scratching my cornea (ouch, that hurt!) and then getting a tooth pulled (no pain there!) to prepare for a dental implant ($$$$$$).  But then we started our summer travelling, so I thought I'd get these memories written down while they're sorta fresh in my toothless head.  

We had to drive down to Maryland because Phil's sister got married!!!  So we packed up the kids and dog at 4 am one morning and drove to Hershey Park.  It was a sunny day (88 degrees) and the kids were a bit tired/hungover on Dramamine (car sickness runs in the family - even the dog!) but it was still a great day!  I took the majority of the kids on the tram ride into the park while Phil and Declan dropped off the dog at the Barking Lot.  How cute is that?

We met inside and got the tickets, then had to measure the littles to see what they could ride.  We had a delicious Hershey bar:

A freshly made Reese's:

And the cutest and thirstiest Kiss ever:

The kids know that posing and smiling nicely for photos is my love language, so I therefore  love everyone except Brendan ;)  JK B, you know you're one of the top three right now.